David Videcette's Blog

There are no perfect crimes, only failed investigations, so when a serious crime investigation goes wrong, there should always be some sort of independent review, away from whichever agency undertook the original investigation. It’s something I feel passionately about, especially after spending five years reinvestigating the disappearance of missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh and uncovering a completely different truth, as detailed in my book, Finding Suzy.  

In recent years there have been many ...

People have asked me, “Why has it taken you so long to investigate Suzy's case?”.

1986 was remarkable for many reasons. The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded seventy-three seconds after launch, putting space exploration in reverse. The Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in Ukraine threatened to kill half the continent, at least according to some commentators. There was a royal wedding, with Prince Andrew marrying Sarah Ferguson. And the M25 London orbital motorway was officially opened.

Madonna to...

Some say that PC Joseph Graham’s last words, as he lay dying on the ground, were to ask who would look after his elderly widowed mother. She was, after all, the reason he had joined the police in the first place.

In trying to break up a fight between two drunken workmen, one of them had turned on him, landing a tremendous punch to his head. As he fell to the floor, his skull smashed on a paving stone. His attacker proceeded to kick him in the groin and abdomen as he lay dying on the ground. 

PC ...

Moped-enabled crimes have risen from around 1,000 in 2014 to more than 19,000 for 2016/2017 – that’s 53 per day.

Over the past year alone, police have dealt with an average of 430 moped-enabled crimes per week in London.

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Facial recognition is again in the news, after Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, blogged about her concerns. However, many of the news stories and comments on social media highlight that there is very little understanding of the fundamental problems surrounding police use of this technology.

In very simple terms,...

Crayfish wars mirror the plight of the British bookshop. The invasive, North American signal crayfish took over the natives' habitat.

In the 1970s, the British government introduced a small, lobster-like creature called the signal crayfish into our waters. A plague was...

Someone asked me the other day – ‘What tactics do you use to catch criminals out?’

I think they were expecting me to answer with something technical and fancy - like a nano drone disguised to look like a fly, which sits on the wall listening to your conversations.

The look on their face when I told them my answer was to die...

There's been a lot of discussion lately about why some people are called terrorists, and others ...

We've all heard a lot about fake news during 2017. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it has never happened before, such is the hype surrounding it.Paradoxically, the reality is very different. Fake news has been going on, well, since man began telling stories… 

T...

As the dust settles on the battle to liberate Raqqa, and the final remnants of Isil are routed from the city, some commentators are claiming that this is the end of Islamic State.  You might feel that this is cause for celebration, yet as a former counter-terror officer with Scotland Yard - I feel more apprehensive than ever before.

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